Nonsense at its best!

Opinions and Assholes – An Analogy

I’ve always been irritated by people who try to prove that their opinion of something is the best. Let alone proving their notion to be the greatest, some refuse to realize that everybody has an opinion. Most act as if it’s wrong of others to differ with them.

It’s more irritating to see people who come to limelight because of their different opinion start behaving as if they have become that opinion. As if they are living that belief. Looking at every good thing through the glass of their impression and commenting on it. A few of those species can be found here, here and here.

Well, my way of analyzing metaphysical things is to compare and try to equate it with something which physically exists, study it’s behavior and try to extrapolate it to fit the original object under study. But in this case, I was pathetically unable to find a tantamount object. What the hell can I compare an opinion to?

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a friend about Bhagavad Gita and how answers to all the questions in the world lie within us. That’s when I had my Eureka moment. The solution to the aforementioned puzzle was always hiding inside me, in the remote bottom corner of my own body. That’s when I realized that Opinions are like assholes. [Though googling it proved that someone else had already discovered it]

Yes. They are. Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has got one. But you have to go through an awful lot of pain if you want to prove yours is the best. And usually, it’s not worth it. [an IfYouKnowWhatIMean wink]

How do you even say that your asshole is the best? Even if you have seen all the assholes in the world, you still can’t see yours. Though you’ve felt what it is like to have your asshole, you can’t have anybody else’s!

With all these constraints why do you even try to compare assholes? How does it even matter?

Well, similarly, having an asshole is fine. There is nothing wrong with it! It’s perfectly natural. But when you become your opinion, you become an asshole. And when you become an asshole, all your output is shit. That’s when you have a problem. That’s when you stink the place up.

Well, that’s just my ‘opinion’. Feel free to open up and give yours. ;)

1. I have always wondered what’s wrong in not having an opinion at all. Is it wrong? Or is it right? Personally, other than aspects of living my life, I don’t have opinions on anything. I normally suck in whatever is thrown at me and then contemplate. And most of the times, such contemplations result in me understanding the problem better but never result in me forming an opinion. For eg, I still don’t have an opinion on the Naxal problem.
On the other hand, there are B-Schools who judge candidates based on the soundness of their opinions in GDs.
So what do we say? Be opinionated or no?

2. I guess, as you mentioned, the main problem in the people highlighted above is their stubbornness in changing their opinions. What will debates involving these people do to them other than providing entertainment to the audience? Aren’t debates platforms for people to come, share their opinions and then, if need be, change their opinions? I wonder if they ever participate in healthy discussions.

3. After I say all this, I should mention that I get a sense of awe when I look at people who ve strong opinions, at people who are strong believers in their beliefs.

Human mind has been conditioned such that it forms an opinion of everything you see. Makes it easier for the brain to take decisions.
As far I’m concerned, I find myself without an opinion in two cases.
1) When I don’t have enough information to form an opinion.
2) When I don’t give a damn about the issue.

But according to Gita, you should not have any opinion about anything. It enables you to analyze things with a fresh perspective. It treats an opinion as a bandhana.
So if you know a lot about something and don’t have a fixed opinion, you’re doing good :)

Here is how I make my asshole smell to you about having assholes. According to my asshole, it’s the whole milieu that we are brought up and work with that influences us to be opinionated. Sahavasa has the effect on our thinking and so does the history, family background, the education. It depends on what you saw as a child – rainbows and butterflies or dust and blood, what stories you were told and so many other factors.